As long as the Microsoft linguists who're responsible for updating Word are adding "Barack" and "Obama" to the spell-check dictionary, they should throw in "Rakim." It's about time — as he confirmed at Harpers Ferry Friday night, homeboy is pretty much the greatest MC ever to grip a mic.

Given how rare intimate Rakim Allah shows are these days, I wasn't expecting to include any openers in my limited review space. But Oak Lonetree and Dese stunned in their debut as the Dunnas, and Rite Hook and Amadeus kicked expertly executed sets that excited both Gen-Xers and underagers with X'd-up hands. If Rakim was watching from backstage (or from above, as gods are known to do), he had to be proud: Boston had more than a few b-boys and sweaty chicks on hand to get down as Slipwax, E Ness, and Emoh of the Deck Demons cut through multiple deadly medleys.

With his crowd-approved party starter on the decks and a pair of rugged beefeaters standing guard in steel-toed Timberlands, Rakim emerged swinging like a "pharaoh in ghetto apparel." After a quick intro, he removed his down jacket and commenced an hour-long-plus pounce. Moving back-and-forth between classic tracks and new joints off the forever-awaited (and still unreleased) Seventh Seal, he revisited a time when substance ruled and fans pumped fists. He whiffed on two or three old rhymes, but minor blunders were forgiven — if not because his lyrics are gloriously intricate, then because his fresh material rang with conviction while his trademarks smacked the spot.

With so much nostalgic Biggie Smalls commotion flooding the rap community's consciousness since the release of Notorious, sometimes even throwback junkies need to be reminded who the king cats really are, and that real rappers wear baggy jeans. I can't speak for everyone, but I walked away in high enough spirits to refrain from going after the folks at Robert's Towing in Brighton who yanked my car from a street where there were no signs saying I couldn't park there.

Deck Demons Now that every annoyingly extroverted hipster dude and chick with implants, long legs, and Serato has a club residency downtown, it's become increasingly important for real hip-hop DJs to mix together.

On with the shows . . . If freezing your ass off builds character, music fans should prepare to develop way too much character over the next few months.

Wu-Tang Clan's essential flavor Fortune magazine once estimated that Michael Jordan has fueled our economy to the tune of $10 billion. Wu-Tang Clan are responsible for the careers of about that many MCs.

Review: Notorious To its fault and its credit, George Tillman Jr.'s bio-pic offers a life story that fans of late MC extraordinaire Chris Wallace, a/k/a Biggie Smalls, a/k/a the Notorious B.I.G., have known for years.

The bulletproof cred of M.O.P. In their decade and a half as thug-rap ambassadors, Brooklyn's Mash Out Posse have made some moves that lesser outfits might have caught shit for.

CZARFACE SOARS ABOVE THE CLOUDS | February 11, 2013 This week 7LES and Inspectah Deck drop Czarface , a full-length work of adventurous genius revolving around a metal-clad protagonist who feeds on destruction.

THE BPD ADDS INSULT TO INJURY | February 05, 2013 At times, this kind of decision makes you wonder whether the BPD is saving its best awards for officers who've been involved in the death of civilians.